Participants Flock to Harbin for Rowing Championship

The 2017 China Rowing Championship was held in Harbin, the capital city of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province on July 30.

Some 320 participants in 32 teams from China, the UK, Israel, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia took part in the Harbin rowing event –– the most famous rowing competition in China.

The event involved five single competition items –– Men’s and Women’s Eight 1km rowing, Men’s and Women’s 1km quadruple sculls, and the University Men’s Eight 1km rowing.

In order to encourage mass participation in the Harbin rowing event, the sponsor of the rowing also arranged for a land rowing machine competition, which was held in a public square next to the headquarters of Harbin municipal government.

Rowing originated in the UK during the 17th century, and was officially recognized as a competition item by the First Olympic Games held in 1896.

Harbin, as one of the earliest Chinese cities to open-up, had established a rowing club as early as the beginning of last century. With a long history of rowing sports, Harbin has set a goal to make the China (Harbin) Rowing Championship the top rowing event in China, as well as a platform to deepen cultural communications and exchanges with other countries and regions.